VacuumGlow: lighting the way with a retro Nixie clock

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Some of the strangest items turn up at hi-fi shows. Usually, it’s oddball hardware that’s bizarre enough by audio standards, like speakers that resemble eyeballs, but sometimes these freakish curveballs are totally unrelated in any way to music in the home. Every three or four years ( admittedly, to my delight as a watch collector) someone turns up with a clock that should appeal to audiophiles, however tenuously. Given their love for valve equipment, a clock with a vacuum tube display is a certain winner.

The clock is made using Nixie tubes

We’ve reported before of a clock with Nixie tubes from MB&F’s M.A.D. division, but it was a limited edition with a price tag akin to a well-equipped Toyota. For those who adore Nixie tubes, but who are too late to acquire the one made some years ago by Telefunken that sold out on announcement, a Russian firm that exhibited at this year’s Munich High End Show has come up with an affordable solution – and it is so cool that I’m tempted, even though I’m staring at the Telefunken version as I write.

The clock oozes retro appeal

VacuumGlow is a Moscow-based concern in a perfect position to exploit Russia’s vast reserves of valves (a.k.a. “tubes” to Americans). Nixie tubes – surely in limited supply – are valves containing large numerals within the glass envelopes that glow to display the time. Just over a half-century-ago, first appearing in 1955, they preceded digital clocks and were once common, but they are costly relative to LCDs or even LEDs, so they went the way of the typewriter and the VCR – except for audiophiles.

For the three VacuumGlow models, the tubes are selected according to size, type, age and quality, but all valves have a three-year warrantee, while the units themselves are guaranteed for life. The designs are minimalist and purely functional, sized like small loaves of bread, but are offered in various colours and finishes to suit any décor. Indeed, a mobile app for your smartphone controls the lighting brightness and selects its colour, to create further a desired visual effect.

The range consists of three models, this being the Levitation

Veneze is the largest model, the ideal choice for a massive room as you can read it from a distance. The tubes for Veneze are the largest IN-18 gas-discharge indicators, manufactured in 1978-1981. They’re deliriously rare in the West, so the cost reflects this. The chassis is machined of a solid piece of aluminium, with a top plate of manually-processed glass.

While the primary tech is vintage, the operation isn’t. The aforementioned Bluetooth 4.0 app – for iOS 7.0 or higher, and Android 4.0 or higher – that deals with colour and intensity is also supplemented by GPS for automatic time correction. Fuses to protect against voltage swings, and the settings and time are retained when disconnected from the power supply.

Its cleverness continues with a light sensor for automatic brightness adjustment, a temperature sensor for control of the electronics, LED backlighting, cases painted by micro-arc oxidation technology and, as a last touch of retro, an on/off toggle switch with a 1960s mien. Collectors note: each Veneze has unique serial number, and the clocks pass CE certification.

The Veneze model

Levitation is the base model, using IN-14 gas-discharge indicators made between 1976-1984, which are noticeably smaller and slimmer than those in the Veneze.

In its ultimate form, Levitation De Luxe uses the same chassis and features but with IN-8 tubes made during 1970s-1980s, is said to be “the most uncommon” of the Nixies. Hipster alert: Nixies are so “you” that they should come with a free tattoo.